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Biography

Roger J. R. Levesque received his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law (1993) and his Ph.D. in cultural psychology from the University of Chicago (1990). Before joining the Department of Criminal Justice, he was professor law and psychology at the University of Arizona and was a fellow in the Law & Psychology Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as well as its Center on Children, Families and the Law.

Professor Levesque currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. In addition to being the first journal devoted to the study of adolescence (founded over 40 years ago), it is the most cited to journal of its kind as well as the most widely found in libraries worldwide; it also currently has the highest Impact Factor (2.797) and Eigenfactors of journals devoted to the social science understanding of adolescence.

Professor Levesque also is the editor-in-chief of the New Criminal Law Review. Focused on examinations of crime and punishment in domestic, transnational, and international contexts, the NCLR, published by the University of California Press, is ranked as the number 1, peer reviewed, criminal law review in the world. He also is editor-in-chief of Adolescent Research Review, which publishes articles critically reviewing important contributions to the understanding of adolescence. The Review draws from the many subdisciplines of developmental science, psychological science, education, criminology, public health, medicine, social work, sociology, and other allied disciplines that address the subject of youth and adolescence. The review supports articles that bridge gaps between disciplines, or that focus on topics that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, in ways that advance developmental science, practice or policy relating to adolescents.

Professor Levesque also edits Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development, a book series examining social and individual factors that contribute to adolescents' responsibility (including irresponsibility) in multiple contexts and settings.

His current book project examines the empirical foundations of the manner the legal system responds to the pernicious effects of social segregation. His most recently completed book manuscript, to be published by Oxford University Press, is entitled Adolescence, Privacy and the Law. That book explores transformations in the law's protection of privacy, privacy's place in socializing institutions and relationships, and its developmental significance for adolescence. Professor Levesque serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry as well asBehavioral Sciences & the Law, andChild Abuse & Neglect; he also continues to serve as external editor for several interdisciplinary journals.

Professor Levesque is the recipient of numerous awards and has earned many distinctions. The Association for Psychological Science (APS) (previously the American Psychological Society) has elected him Fellow in recognition of his outstanding contributions to developmental science. In addition, the American Psychological Association (APA) has elected him Fellow in recognition of his contributions to the field of psychology and law as well as his contribution to psychology’s place in the study of social issues; he is Fellow in the American Psychology/Law Society as well as the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. He also has gained fellow status for his contributions to youth policy development, in the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, as well as for his contributions to developmental science, in APA’s Division 7: Developmental Psychology. Recently, Professor Levesque won the Trustees Teaching Excellence Award and the Society for Research on Adolescence Outstanding Book Award for his book entitled Not by Faith Alone. He also won the American Psychology and Law Society Outstanding Book Award, 2009, for his Adolescents, Media and the Law. He has chaired the American Orthopsychiatric Association's Task Force on Mental Health and Human Rights and has served on several recent task forces and working groups, including some under the auspices of the American Psychological Association and the offices of the U.S. Surgeon General. For his work on human rights law, he received the Marion Langer Award (2013) from the American Orthopsychiatric Association. Professor Levesque also has led training seminars for professionals interested in a wide variety of topics relating to adolescents and the law.